At an inter-city Rotary meeting last Thursday, Rotarians from the Cape Girardeau County, Cape Girardeau Downtown, Cape Girardeau West, Jackson, Perryville, Ste. Genevieve and Marble Hill Rotary Clubs heard reports from the Group Study Exchange Team (GSE) on their recent trip to Minas Gerais, Brazil.

The GSE is funded by Rotary International in the hopes of creating a world of understanding an peace. The team is made up of non-Rotarians who spend 4-6 weeks in a foreign country. Their host country also sends a group in exchange for the same weeks. Team members look at governmental, educational, health care and other organizational structures in their host country to see how their fellow Rotarians live.

"We visited District 4760 in Brazil from April 1-30, 1998," said William E. "Bill" Port, team leader. Port, a member of the Cape West Rotary Club, has also served as Group Study Exchange Chairman for the local District 6090.

"We toured through Minas Gerais, which is actually as big as Texas," said Port. "We stayed with Rotarians in their homes. We actually got to meet the exchange group from Brazil before we left and then visited with them again in Brazil when they returned."

Charla J. Myers, Outreach Coordinator for Southeast Missouri Workshop on Wheels at Southeast Missouri State University, commented on the educational system she found in Brazil.

"Public school is for the poor in Brazil," said Myers. "The wealthy can afford to send their children to private schools, so the public schools have very little resources. They had very few textbooks in good condition or workbooks and encyclopedias for the students. They couldn't even afford crayolas.

"Children in public schools are also taught basic living habits," said Myers. "They receive two meals each day because many are not fed at home. When you go into the slums, they look just like what you would see on a Save the Children commercial. These kids just don't have much."

Myers also related how the Brazilians were amazed that American women would go to work and then come home and take care of the family at the end of the day.

"Children only go to school half-a-day and then spend the other half in a social service school-age daycare," said Myers. "The wealthy can afford child care for about $5-a-day there, so the children of these sitters have to spend time in day care. All day cares are provided by social services."

"Minas Gerais isn't like going to a third-world country," said Port. "It's actually a very wealthy area with mining and farming in its economy. The people there are very friendly."

Also attending on the tour were Katherine Hardy, a solo practice attorney from Farmington; Joe Horner, a farm management specialist with the University of Missouri Extension Service in Perryville; and Joe Werne, a professor of history at Southeast Missouri State University. Each looked at resources, facilities and services being provided to the people of Minas Gerais.

"We went down there as strangers, but came back after four weeks learning a lot and still liking each other," said Port.